250 and Counting

Peter Tondee and his wife Lucy ran Tondee’s Tavern in Savannah, Georgia. It was quite the location for revelry and such, and it was a popular meeting place up until it burned down in 1796, along with most of that city. Nowadays there’s a plaque in the side of the building where Tondee’s once stood. […]

The post June 5, 1775: A Birthday Party for the King appeared first on 250 and Counting.

The Gunpowder Incident, Part 1 The Gunpowder Incident, Part 2 The Gunpowder Incident, Part 3 (OK, we lied then about it ending) It’s been nearly two months since the Gunpowder Incident started, and the entire time, the Royal Governor, Lord Dunmore, has been trying to keep things from getting out of hand. He might—might—have succeeded, […]

The post June 4, 1775: The Gunpowder Incident: Epilogue appeared first on 250 and Counting.

Silas Deane was a delegate to the Continental Congress from Connecticut, and by most accounts he did a decent job of it, although he did lose his position after a dispute with Roger Sherman. He stuck around Congress anyway, helping however he could. The following year he went to France as a secret delegate to […]

The post June 3, 1775: Committees Everywhere appeared first on 250 and Counting.

Joseph Warren is definitely one of the unsung heroes of the American Revolution. We last heard from him on March 5, when he did his You Are There routine describing the events of the Boston Massacre at a memorial event (in fact, we used the same cover art). Today he’s more of the guy with […]

The post June 2, 1775: Joseph Warren Has A Good Idea appeared first on 250 and Counting.

When I was a kid learning about the American Revolution, we somehow got it in our heads that Hessians were some kind of Super Troopers, practically undefeatable and certainly not to be trifled with. And to a certain extent, that was true. Hessians were professional soldiers, that is, they were mercenaries. What’s more, they were […]

The post June 1, 1775: Hessians Arrive in Quebec appeared first on 250 and Counting.

With all the talk of our good relationships with Canada possibly going awry in the light of tariffs being levied [or not] against that country, it’s interesting to recognize that there was, in fact, a genuine relationship established before the Colonies broke away from England. It started in 1774, and continues on this day in […]

The post May 31, 1775: The Second Letter to Canada appeared first on 250 and Counting.

As we noted a couple of days ago, the Continental Congress had its share of delegates who wanted to take one more crack at reconciliation. To that end they’d begun working on the Olive Branch Petition, though it wouldn’t be ready to send to Britain for several more weeks. So when a letter came in […]

The post May 30, 1775: Thomas Willing Gets Mail appeared first on 250 and Counting.

By all accounts, Nathan Cutler was an effective lawyer and legislator, as his frequent returns to the Massachusetts Legislature, and later the Maine House of Representatives, will attest. And when a governor of the State of Maine died, he was able to step into the role until the term of office expired. Cutler could have […]

The post May 29, 1775: Nathan Cutler appeared first on 250 and Counting.

Some of what you’ll be hearing today will have overlap with yesterday’s episode, but we all have shorter memories, we read in an article…uh, somewhere. But in the long run, that’s okay, because context is everything, and it’s important to understand what a big deal this particular incident was against the bigger picture.

The post May 28, 1775: The Battle of Chelsea Creek, pt.2 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

Not to be confused with Chelsea of Battle Creek, who has worked for a famous cereal company for 28 years. (We may have made that up.) Lexington and Concord was the first “official” battle of the American Revolution, but at best it was a draw: Patriots took a bunch of losses, soldier-wise, but the British […]

The post May 27, 1775: The Battle of Chelsea Creek, pt.1 appeared first on 250 and Counting.